Sessions

Friday, 16 August 2013

Y Not Festival - Saturday

Saturday begins similarly to the way Friday did; the storm
from the night before has passed and Y Not is waking up in warm tents in a damp
field trying to piece together the night before and THAT storm.

Anyone hoping to have a steady road to recovery bundled into
BBC Introducing’s allocation at the Quarry to catch These Mortal Cities. Their
twinkling teenage indie came fresh out of the mid-noughties with the kind of
enjoyable naivety festivals should be about, especially considering the crowd
was barely over age in most parts of the tent.
From one indie band to another,
much more professional and enjoyable one; Sky Larkin took to the main stage to
play tracks from their forthcoming record as well as a few fan-favourites.
Judging by a few of the tracks, Motto could be a strong return to form for the
Leeds band.

From here, one of the possible standouts of the festival
come in the form of Drenge. A big crowd
has assembled for the duo in anticipation to hear the MP plugged grunge that
will surely heat up the charts next week; and the boys don’t disappoint.It’s loud, energetic and even features a song
about a bus.

I Am In Love follow. What everyone was expecting to be a
simple 30minute set however, quickly became a party that featured people
playing rugby, a marriage proposal (of the lead singer) and drumming from the
middle of the crowd. When you bare in mind that this is all in the smallest
tent of the festival, its certainly a feat. Whitemore following this do not
satisfy to the same extent and its up to 65DaysofStatic to battle a painfully
short set and bring the tempo back up. They do not disappoint with a set that
features material taken from their upcoming record as well as the singles from
their last and of course, the epic Radio Protector. If only they had over half
an hour in the sun!

The 1975 then cram a tent full to the brim for their
performance. It’s energetic and a hugely uplifting set full of material that’s
bound to set the remainder of the summer alight once their debut LP is out next
month and it leads us perfectly back across the Y Not site for a set of Ash’s
greatest hits. Their time at the top is most definitely behind them, but Ash
still know how to put on a great show and the masses assembled at the main
stage agree.

After this it’s only the Cribs left and they headline in
style. Whilst the setlist doesn’t favour those who prefer their older material,
almost every single from their last decade gets an outing as the band’s Payola
record is rifled through in what feels like no time at all. The festival’s
biggest crowd so far also proves to be the most raucous and as the Y Not party
continues through the night, you’re left wanting more Cribs and less of their
last two LPs.